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V.
The Holy Spirit
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Chapter 46
:
The
Outpouring of the Spirit
1. FOR what did Christ, just before His ascension,
tell His disciples to wait?
"And, behold, I send the promise of My Father upon you:
but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be
endued with power from on high." Luke 24:49.
2. With what did He say they would be baptized?
"Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not
many days hence." Acts 1:5.
NOTE.-John the Baptist had foretold this baptism. He
said: "I indeed baptize you with water unto
repentance: but He that cometh after me is mightier
than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: He
shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with
fire." Matt. 3:11.
3. For what work was this baptism to prepare them?
"But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost
is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto Me
both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria,
and unto the uttermost part of the earth." Acts 1:8.
4. What were some of the results of the preaching of
the gospel under the outpouring of the Spirit?
"Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their
heart, and said . . . Men and brethren, what shall
we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be
baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for
the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of
the Holy Ghost. . . . Then they that gladly received his
word were baptized: and the same day there were added
unto them about three thousand souls." Acts
2:37-41. "And by the hands of the apostles were many
signs and wonders wrought among the people; . . . and
believers were the more added to the Lord,
multitudes both of men and women." Acts 5:12-14. "And
the word of God increased; and the number of the
disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a
great company of the priests were obedient to the
faith." Acts 6:7.
5. How did persecution affect the preaching of the
gospel?
"And at that time there was a great persecution against
the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all
scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and
Samaria, except the apostles. . . . Therefore they
that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the
word." Acts 8:1-4.
NOTE.-"Persecution has only had a tendency to extend
and establish the faith which it was designed to
destroy. . . . There is no lesson which men have
been so slow to learn as that to oppose and
persecute men is the very way to confirm them in
their opinions, and to spread their doctrines."-Dr.
Albert Barnes, on Acts 4:4.
6. What words of Peter seem to indicate another
outpouring of the Spirit?
"Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins
may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing
shall come from the presence of the Lord." Acts
3:19.
7. What event does he speak of as immediately
following these times of refreshing?
"And He shall send Jesus Christ, which before was
preached unto you: whom the heaven must receive [Syriac,
retain] until the times of restitution of all things,
which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy
prophets since the world began." Verses 20,21.
NOTE.-From this it seems evident that we may look
for another outpouring of the Spirit for a final
proclamation of the gospel to all the world just
before Christ's second advent and the restitution of
all things.
8. What prophecy was fulfilled in the Pentecostal
outpouring of the Spirit in the time of the apostles?
"But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his
voice, and said, . . . These are not drunken, as ye
suppose, . . . but this is that which was spoken by
the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the
last days, saith God, I will pour out My Spirit upon all
flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions, and your old men
shall dream dreams: and on my servants and on my
handmaidens I will pour out in those days of My Spirit,
and they shall prophesy." Acts 2:14-18. See Joel
2:28,29.
9. What expressions in the prophecy of Joel seem to
imply a double fulfillment of this outpouring of the
Spirit?
"Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the
Lord your God: for He hath given you the former rain
moderately, and He will cause to come down for you
the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain
in the first month." Joel 2:23. See also Hosea 6:3.
NOTE.-In Palestine the early rains prepare the soil
for the seed sowing, and the latter rains ripen the
grain for the harvest. So the early outpouring of
the Spirit prepared the world for the extensive
sowing of the gospel seed, and the final outpouring
will come to ripen the golden grain for the harvest
of the earth, which Christ says is "the end of the
world." Matt. 13:37-39; Rev. 14:14,15.
10. For what are we told to pray
at this time?
"Ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of
the latter rain; so the Lord shall make bright
clouds, and give them showers of rain to everyone grass
in the field." Zech. 10:1.
NOTE.-Before the apostles received the baptism of
the Spirit in the early rain on the day of
Pentecost, they all "continued with one accord in
prayer and supplication." Acts 1:14. During this
time they confessed their faults, put away their
differences, ceased their selfish ambitions and
contentions for place and power, so that when the
time for the outpouring came, "they were all with
one accord in one place," ready for its
reception. To be prepared for the final outpouring
of the Spirit, all sin and selfish ambition must
again be put away, and a like work of grace wrought
upon the hearts of God's people.
11. How is the closing work of the gospel under the
out pouring of the Spirit described by the revelator?
"After these things I saw another angel come down from
heaven, having great power; and the earth was
lightened with his glory." Rev. 18:1.
12. What does this angel say?
"And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying,
Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is
become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every
foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful
bird." Verse 2.
NOTE.-The religious world will then be in much the
same condition as was the Jewish nation after it had
rejected Christ at His first advent. See 2 Tim.
3:1-5
13. What did Peter on the day of
Pentecost tell his hearers to do?
"And with many other words did he testify and exhort,
saying, Save yourselves from this untoward
generation." Acts 2:40.
14. What similar call and appeal will be made under
the final outpouring of the Spirit?
"And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come
out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of
her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For
her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath
remembered her iniquities." Rev. 18:4,5.
NOTES.-A great work will be accomplished in a short
time under the final outpouring of the Spirit. Many
voices all over the earth will sound the warning
cry. Signs and wonders will be wrought by the
believers, and, as at Pentecost, thousands will be
converted in a day.
Those who fail to heed this final gospel call, like
the unbelieving Jews, will be doomed to destruction.
The seven last plagues will overtake them, as war,
famine, death, and destruction overtook the Jews,
who, not believing in Christ, failed to heed His
call to flee, and shut themselves up in Jerusalem to
their doom. Those who heed the call, and separate
themselves from sin and from sinners, will be saved.
Come, Holy
Spirit, come,
Let Thy bright beams arise,
Dispel the sorrow from our minds,
The darkness from our eyes.
Convince us
all of sin,
Then lead to Jesus' blood,
And to our wondering view reveal
The mercies of our God.
Revive our
drooping faith,
Our doubts and fears remove,
And kindle in our breasts the flame
Of never-dying love.
'Tis Thine
to cleanse the heart,
To sanctify the soul,
To pour fresh life in every part,
And new-create the whole.
Come, Holy
Spirit, come,
Our minds from bondage free;
Then shall we know, and praise, and love
The Father, Son, and Thee.
JOSEPH HART.
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